Close Call Gives Nance A New Outlook On Life

John Nance Realized How Unimportant Football Was When Doctors Had To Remove A Tumor.

August 10, 1993|By Alan Schmadtke of The Sentinel Staff

TALLAHASSEE — Florida State's first day in full pads is Wednesday. Only then will defensive line coach Chuck Amato know for sure about reborn nose guard John Nance.

Nance, however, believes he already absorbed the biggest hit - and got up fighting.

The horror of a tumor, the scare of cancer and the arduous process of radiation therapy put Nance on an emotional roller coaster. After that, football practice, for the first time, seems like cake.

''All this that I've been through, it has changed my life,'' said Nance, a senior from Bartow.

''I have a positive outlook about things. I see good things. I can't say that when I came back that being one or two (first- or second-team) didn't matter, but it didn't seem as important. But I knew how to go after it.''

''His work ethic is much better,'' said sophomore Connell Spain, who is on the second team behind Nance at nose guard. ''He's going to be a great defensive lineman.''

Said strength and conditioning coach Dave Van Halanger: ''Really, John has been reborn. Since the whole thing started, he has worked and worked and worked. And now it's paying off.''

After three seasons of sporadic success on the field and in class, Nance backed up Toddrick McIntosh last year and finished sixth in tackles.

Things were going so well he ignored a sore neck and skipped doctor appointments in December to prepare for Nebraska in the Orange Bowl.

Then doctors discovered a lump on his shoulder and recommended surgery. They mentioned the words ''tumor'' and ''cancer,'' and suddenly football was an afterthought.

''I was very fearful,'' Nance said. ''I was scared. I was 22 years old, and they were telling me I had a tumor in my neck, and they didn't know if I had a future.''

A biopsy determined the tennis ball-size lump was benign, but that represented only half of Nance's battle. He had to restrengthen the shoulder and endure 15 minutes of radiation treatment five days a week for six weeks.

Doctors told him the type of tumor that he had often recurs, and the low-level radiation treatment would help prevent that.

Unfortunately for Nance, a sapped energy level made him add weight, another obstacle to his return.

''I feel the Lord has provided me with the ability to come back from all this. He just blessed me,'' Nance said. ''I put my health in His hands, and He has gotten me to here.''

''He had mixed emotions about a lot of things. He was angry about a lot of things,'' said Judy Nance, Nance's mother. ''I spent a week with him in the hospital and really babied him. But finally I told him that it could have been worse.

''I was telling him to look at what he had, that he still could get his degree, which is why he went to Tallahassee in the first place. He has taken off with it. I'm very relieved - and very happy.''

The next step comes Wednesday with pads.

''Getting back,'' he said, ''was the biggest step for me.''

NOTES: CB Corey Fuller, the extra defensive back in FSU's nickel defense, sprained his right knee Monday afternoon in a passing drill and limped from the field. He later rode a golf cart to the training room. Doctors will evaluate the injury. Fuller is the top reserve at both cornerbacks in the Seminoles' base defense . . . Backup QB Danny Kanell watched the morning practice and was withheld from Monday's afternoon practice because of a slight case of pneumonia. His absence has allowed sophomore transfer Jon Stark and freshman Thad Busby to receive attention . . . One of the players who caught Bowden's eye was WR Phillip Riley of Orlando. He caught a pair of long passes on a day when receivers as a group didn't perform well. Riley went to Jones High School.